Subsist
by Kasumi-Yozakurairo
Summary: Living on your own is not the easiest thing in the world. Especially being a full-time student and working part-time. Sakura has struggled long enough and the weight of the world is resting on her shoulders. She's crumbling under the stress when a drastic change occurs in her life and is pushed over the edge. Her accidental phone call with a stranger will change her life forever.
1. PSA

So I've been in a rut for a while trying to get my life straightened out and with re-starting school and keeping my job my time will be very limited again, but I want to go ahead and make this opening statement before I go ahead and publish this story.

I was recently watching a video from Markiplier who played a game called Don't Take The Risk. Now, in a nutshell, this game is about attempting suicide. It is a very serious subject and I want to start this off by saying that if you are having any kind of suicidal thoughts please do not hesitate to call the suicide hotline: **1-800-273-8255**. They are available 24/7. This is for the American Suicide Hotline, I'm not sure if I have any readers from other countries please look up the number for your respective country, and call.

You are worth living for. You are worth it. You cannot let the darkness take over and run your life. You are important to everyone you touch, even if it doesn't seem like it, you are. You are put on this world for a reason and you cannot let yourself cut it short. Live your life to it's fullest potential and be happy. Do what makes you happy. Surround yourself with positive people and get rid of anyone that hurts you in any way. Every life is precious and you must cherish it.

Once again that number is **1-800-273-8255**. Please do not hesitate to call if you need it.


	2. Phone Call

_If you have not read the PSA before this chapter I really suggest going back and reading it. I'm just going to reiterate that this story is not going to be a continuous happy-go-lucky story. This is going to address a very serious subject. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED._

 _I was really inspired to write this story for a while and I really want to get the story and the feeling right. It will be my first time writing something like this so please bare with me._

 _DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or anything in the story, just the plot_

* * *

"Why does everything have to be a fight!" Sakura growled as she threw her backpack onto her bed making her phone plop out of her bag and on the floor. Sakura groaned and picked it up, but just threw it back on her bed again. She had just finished another day of endless school work being thrown her way. It wasn't that the schoolwork was difficult per-say, it was just something she had to add to her never-ending list of things to worry about. She looked at the stack of bills she had thrown on her desk, just another month of living paycheck to paycheck. Which weren't all that much to begin with thanks to the minimum wage being so low and not getting enough hours at work. The stress of it was getting too much to handle. She slumped up against the side of her bed, hugging her legs to her chest, thinking of nothing yet everything all at once.

The muffled vibration of her phone broke Sakura out of her trance as she reached behind her and answered the call without even looking. "Hello?"

"Sakura-chan! I'm soo sorry but I have to cancel our dinner date!" Ino's voice whined. Sakura's best friend since middle school.

'of course' Sakura thought as she rolled her eyes and hung her head low, placing it on her knees. "Let me guess, you have extra homework and need to study for your test next week,"

"I'm really sorry Sakura. I'll make it up to on Saturday when I have time to relax," Ino pleaded. Sakura sighed.

"It's okay, we'll just reschedule later, go study." Sakura didn't wait for a reply before she hung up and dropped the phone on the floor. Her one moment of sanity just slipped through her fingers like that.

' _ **She just doesn't want to hang out with you…'**_ There's that little voice in her head. The one that everyone has that tries and make you feel like a piece of shit. Sakura groaned as she shook her head and got up from her spot on the floor, plugging her phone into the charger before busying herself with tidying up to quite the voice in her head.

' _ **She doesn't need to study! She's the top student in her classes. She's going out with someone else and didn't want you to tag along,'**_ Sakura stared blankly at her task at hand.

' _ **She never liked you…'**_ Sakura slammed her hands down on her desk, knocking over the pile of bills she just stacked up. She turned swiftly on her heels and walking into the living room of her tiny apartment and turned on the tv to drown out the silence. She falls onto the couch, pulling her laptop onto her lap and going into her zombie state of not pay attention to anything, just scrolling through the website absentmindedly. She heard the metal tang of the mail flap on her door swing closed. She groaned as she got off the couch. She opened the letter and began reading.

 _Dear Medicaid Recipient,_

 _You have recently lost your Medicaid. You may be eligible for a special Medicaid program that pays for family planning services. Family planning services…_

Her breath caught in her throat. The bubble of air expanded in her throat, restricting her breathing even more. Sakura flipped through the multiple pages stuffed in the envelope trying to sort through everything in her head.

 _For every day that you are without a form of insurance, you will be charged $300…._

"Are you fucking serious right now!" Sakura growled as she threw the papers to the floor in a fit or rage. She stormed into her room, slamming the door open, banging against the wall. She fell face first into the bed letting out a bone chilling scream into a pillow before slowing fading into a hysteria of cries. The build-up of the past few days had finally caught up with Sakura. The countless bills that still needed to pay for the month lay on the floor now, taunting her as she looked off to the side. Not only did she not have $300 to spare a month, how was she going to even find a new health insurance that quickly? She growled as she threw her pillow on the floor covering the least of her issues as of now. There was no way Sakura was going to be able to do this. Not anymore. This was no way to live! Paycheck to paycheck, being forced to have insurance or be fined for not having it. It would just be easier to end it…

' _ **It would be easier to end things. Just a little pain for a while then it'll all be over. It'll be better than living this crappy life…'**_

"No! Stop it!" Sakura cried holding her head.

' _ **But think about it! No more stress. No more wondering if you'll be able to survive next month. You won't have to drag your friends down anymore. It'll be over…'**_

"NO!" Sakura screamed. Her phone screen lit up, illuminating her now dark room. Sakura's head shot up in surprise and fear at the sudden light. It was just indicating that the phone was completely charged but Sakura took the opportunity of silence to grab her phone and dial a certain number. She didn't hesitate. She couldn't hesitate or she would listen to that voice. She would listen to its nonsense rambling and go through with it…and that's what scared her the most. Sakura hugged her legs to her chest tightly as the heat from the phone warmed her tear stained cheek.

"Hello?" A deep male voice picked up the other end

"I-is this the Suicide Hotline?" Sakura's voice cracked and stuttered, trying to hide the pain.

"No, it isn't," Sakura's heart faltered at the realization.

"O-oh…sorry to bother you," Sakura removed the phone from her ear and was about to end the call before she heard the man call out to her.

"Don't hang up. You aren't going to hurt yourself, right?" The voice sounded concerned.

"I hope not," Sakura trailed off calming down to just sniffles and gasping breaths.

"What's your name? Maybe we can meet up somewhere and talk this through in person?" The voice suggests.

"This is Sakura but listen, I'm not going anywhere with someone I don't even know, even if I did just try and call the suicide hotline. I'm not psychotic." Sakura was getting increasingly defensive and uneasy.

"Where are you?" She could hear shuffling in the background and the intensity in his voice increase.

"I-I've got to go…I shouldn't have called," Sakura hung up the phone before he could persuade her to talk any further. Sakura threw her phone onto the other end of the bed, ignoring the constant buzzing of him trying to call her back. She got up from her bed ignoring the phone and walking back into her living room, shutting the door behind her to muffle to buzzing even more. Sakura picked up the papers from the ground where she threw them and put them on the bar top, vowing to deal with it in the morning. She sat back down on the couch, grabbing the remote and switching to the cartoon channel, trying to make herself forget what just happened.

' _Just forget what happened. You went to a dark place. Everyone goes to a dark place every now and then, nothing to worry about.'_ Sakura keeps reassuring herself. An hour had passed and Sakura was lounging on the couch, scrolling through the website from before when there was a frantic knock at her door. Sakura jumped up from the sudden noise and let out a little yelp. Sakura quickly pushed the laptop off of her lap when she realized what was happened and opened the door, but not undoing the chain.

"Are you the girl who called me?" The man standing at the door was out of breath. He was panting heavily as Sakura found the worry in his eyes. Which were an interesting pitch black with just the faintest hint of red? Though unique Sakura had felt like she's seen those eyes before. "I'm kind of in a hurry here. Are you the girl that called me earlier or not?"

"U-uh, I called someone earlier but it was the wrong number. I think you have the wrong person. I haven't seen you before," Sakura hesitated as she tried to close the door. But when he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, shoving it in her face where we stared back at her phone number.

"Is this your number? I got a call from it about an hour ago and I need to find her," Sakura briefly looked back up at the man before deciding this needed to end and he needed to leave.

"I've never seen that number before and I've very sorry but I' going to have to ask you to leave now," Sakura moved to close the door but the man shot his foot between the door and the frame in protest.

"Would you mind if I called it now. If I don't hear a sound from my call then I'll leave you alone. I'm running out of time." The man pleaded as he pushed the call button. Sakura tried to stop him from doing so but the loud thud and vibration from her bedroom were a dead give away. The man ended the call and the vibration stopped.

"You need to leave," Sakura demanded and she tried to kick his foot out from between the door.

"I'm glad to see you're alright," Sakura paused her motions as she looked back up at the man who eyes had now shifted in a kinder and calmer emotion.

"You don't even know me. We talked for like 10 minutes. You can't possibly have any kind of connection with me. You just didn't want to have the guilt of not doing anything if I did actually kill m-…Can you just leave me alone now?" Sakura couldn't bring herself to admit that she had actually gotten that low in her life.

"You're right…I didn't want that guilt." The man admitted, leaning against the door frame and crossing his arms. "But I did catch myself actually caring for this random stranger that called me and told me she was thinking of hurting herself. You can see where human instinct comes into play here."

"Okay, well I need to go sort some things out so if you don't mind," Sakura stated, fidgeting with the door. The man straightened himself out and removed his foot. "Thank you, and good night."

"Good night Sakura. I'll be seeing you around. The name's Itachi by the way." Sakura shut the door and made sure all of the locks were in their place before Itachi moved. Sakura let out a frustrated sigh and walked back into her room and picked up the phone on the floor. 27 missed calls and 15 unread texts. Could this guy be more persistent? Sakura sighed once more before beginning to clean up the mess she had made earlier. She looked at the time on her phone and groaned when 1:30 stared back at her. She walked back into the living room, plugging in her phone once again after setting her alarm and drifting off to sleep on the couch with the tv still flashing in front of her.

* * *

 _There you go! I hope you guys enjoyed this story….as much as one can enjoy a story involving suicide-related topics…..Please review this story, it keeps me motivated to write more chapters more often. Thanks to Amaya and Aiko no Akatsuki for all your help with this chapter and fleshing out the story even more._

 _~Sakura-chan_


End file.
